D has been Scouting for Food (like my kids ever stop), and my husband and I walked about 3.5 miles on a city greenway trail. It was cold.
I'm working with the parish council and other Hispanic Ministry people to assemble resources for our parishioners in the new immigration enforcement climate. We should be able to have handouts and posters by next weekend.
Another cool animal from Madagascar...thanks Cynthia
It is 27 degrees here, feels like 13, but it is supposed to get to 31 later this afternoon, a veritable heat wave..
I have nothing but scary news with no answers yet and I am struggling to remain positive and my body is of course taking the stress out on me...lol
So, don't want to go into the cat and my mom thing until I actually know what is happening, and I also don't want to be too much of a downer...sigh..I wish the vet and my sister would get back to me...
Going to read some stuff today and pay bills and not much else
The full on Chinese Lunar New Year Spring Festival mass migration is peaking right now. There's about 300-400 million people actively driving their car, packed on a high speed train, and in some cases walking home....right now. The pictures of tens of thousands of people in the train stations are almost unbelievable. Videos of highways with creeping bumper to bumper traffic for 250 miles. Highway rest areas that are so packed, cars are backed up for miles waiting to get in so they can pee.
Think about that. The approximate entire population of the United States are all going somewhere....right now, all at once.
The whole Chinese gift giving thing is really wonderful. No one goes to anyone's house without something. Fruit is very common, folks arrive with boxes of fruit. We're overflowing with fruit right now.
Absolutely. We have a closet of stuff….tea, various scarves, odds and ends, fancy gift porcelain cups in fancy boxes… that folks gave us. If you’re going to someone’s place, you take a gift. The stuff you don’t want goes somewhere else, or is stored away for future gifting.
When my wife’s students come over for help or consolation, they always bring fruit, lots and lots of very nice fruit.
If you are hosting someone, are you expected to give gifts to the guests as well?
When I was in college I hosted some Taiwanese business men, and they gave my mom a little tea set. She fixed them plates of food. Should we have had a gift for them as well?
The thing with oranges... In America, we like apples and have a couple dozen varieties. In China, it's about oranges. There are several dozen varieties of oranges; our neighborhood guys carry 15-20 different types, but there are dozens more varieties. We've got little "mandarins" in America, but here, they are what we would call heirloom varieties. They come with the leaves on as a means for determining freshness. Wilted or no leaves, not fresh. They last about 3-4 days, like strawberries. During Spring Festival, vast numbers of these little oranges are served during visits.
There are a dozen or more "ugly oranges" (that's the translation) that are like a regular orange but the skin literally is like a bag; the orange rattles around inside. They're a gifting item. They come individually wrapped in fancy paper, in a decorative nice box.
No, no, no…plates of food was perfect. The visitor brings a gift. The host lays out platters of oranges, nuts, and is constantly refills everyone’s hot water bottles and/or tea cups. And you sit there and talk. Family members all go around to the elderly members and visit. In this part of China, sunflower seeds are consumed in volume. It’s like a nervous tic; people crack and eat sunflower seeds while talking….or doing anything, really. There are mountains of sunflower seed shells after every visit. Out in the villages, they shells literally cover the floor.
It’s essentially a 2 week party. Officially, it’s from about now until January 29, which is the official New Year’s Day. The whole country shuts down, and I mean that literally. Everything closes and everyone goes back and forth visiting family and friends, sitting and talking, and eating lots of good food and giving gifts.
Gifts are kinda fun. We got a big bag of potatoes from a cousin, several boxes of oranges, a 2 gallon jug of cooking oil…. We gave some village cousins a big box of milk powder (they don’t have a refrigerator.). I’m taking a jug of cooking oil and a bag of apples to a friend up in the mountains tomorrow.
On the China beat, Big Daddy has gone full Kim Jong Un with 6 o'clock news setups of him walking through grocery stores and the (small) crowds are all have ear to ear euphoric smiles and are clapping maniacally while BD receives their adulation with studied calm and smiling restraint. It's so over the top, it's comical. All the normal people in their LR's immediately change the channel and snorts things I don't understand but are clearly distaste...which makes me understand we're all brethren in this ridiculous world.
For those attuned to communication in China, this is actually good news. The Party fully understands that everyone hates his guts and have reverted to 1950's infantile political idiocies, which everyone recognizes for what it is, making the current Party leadership even more reviled.
Maybe BD should take a page from DT's Western playbook of late and instead of walking through a grocery store, pull a quickie shift bagging fries at a MickeyD's. Lots of folks here seemed to eat that one up with more relish than a Chicago hot dog.
The no-joke answer is that I replaced it with another of the same brand at the same location that gave the same readings. There’s a reason the official thermometers in the field for official weather records use(d) Stevenson screens as the standard.
Where they showed that the intention of the “science” is propaganda is when they started combining thermometer readings prior to the standard with the ones after the standard was implemented. Next they stopped caring where the Stevenson screens were situated. I could go on…trust me…
I'm not sure who the official "they" is here, but it sounds like you'd like to tell them where to stick their thermometers.
No joke, I realize placement matters. And you'd think "standards" would, too. I mean how's the data supposed to actually mean anything without the consistency of standards?
I've been working on my seat of the pants feel for when temps are listed in Centigrade. I'm almost there. Like, when I see 65ºF, I know exactly which tech jacket to grab. Now when I see 15ºC, I know what to put on before I go out.
I'm not there yet. 0º means a medium jacket, 20º is really pleasant walking weather, 25º means Katie wants the a/c kicking in, 30º means the pool will feel great, and 42º means I'm probably in Maroc.
I've spend most of the week working on the DEI retrenchment research paper. I had hit a wall; all I had was the direct effect. I tried to test some regressions, but to no avail; I needed more data.
I went back to some earlier, non-activist DEI retrenchments. Something odd struck me, an idea to make it work. And it kinda sorta did. The sample grew from 18 to 32, but the main effect dropped to no significance. Normally this is known as "a major bummer"! 😨But not to me, it works! 😀
If I split the sample, there's a very clear difference between the activist retrenchments, and non-activist retrenchments. The activist are positive market reactions, the non-activist are negative (but not significant).
The story is about "paying the Danegeld", which is the firms who retrenched in response to the activists did so to make them go away. And the markets responded favorably to that.
I let my co-author know, who was excited about the results. We'll provide the overall sample, then show the two sub-samples to make our point. As further proof we can combine the two sub-samples for a multi-variate regression sample, showing what affects both groups, while showing the sub-sample split is real. It'd have been perfect if the non-activist had been both negative and significant, but in the overall regression analysis the split is statistically significant.
We're gonna make the deadline for this special issue after all! 😀
Katie is very happy because I have been out of her hair as she has both her sister and her best friend visiting for the weekend. Does she care about the results? Her sister and best friend are more interesting to her, for some reason.
Several companies have announced they are taking actions to reduce their DEI efforts. Those actions include no longer reporting their DEI efforts to the Human Rights Commission, no longer sponsoring Pride week activities, or reducing headcount in their formal DEI staffs. That is what is I meant by retrenchment.
Robbie Starbuck this past summer began bragging he was the activist causing this to happen. And the stock market price changes between those which he targeted and others (announcing cessation of some DEI practices) is huge. It's +1.4% for those he targeted, and -0.5% for those he did not.
It probably means different things to different people. Since a certain POTUS may not actually know the difference between entrenchment and retrenchment, I expect it's safe to say it could represent his and his administration's position on it: bury it.
I didn't know for sure what that meant, but I think the basic idea should work whether "DEI retrenchment" means adding DEI practices or eliminating them. In either case, the corporation that is seen to be responsive to activist pressure is rewarded by the market.
Here is what I think it means: If a corporation is under pressure from activists, and the corporation makes changes in its DEI policies, its share price will go up.
Observation of the phenomenon doesn't explain it, of course. I would suggest that investors reason that a company that responds to activist pressure is less likely to be the target either of a public boycott/harassment action or of a government inquiry, with its attendant costs and uncertainty.
And it may depend on who the activists are and their motive / objective as opposed to the way management "sees things" as being in the best interest of the company.
Of course I couldn't tell you whether Costco shareholders are right or wrong about their response to this vis a vie what's best for their company for the long term; time will tell I suppose. What I've read about it elsewhere indicates Costco's management at least think *their* version of a DEI program is a good thing for the company. And the shareholders seem to strongly agree.
However it works out for them, I give 'em all props for not caving to outside (and currently fashionable) political pressure about how they legally run their own darned company.
It seems to me like it would be very challenging to separate out signal from noise or to isolate a single cause in later analysis.
As to what they decided, Costco seems to me like a company that is concentrated in heavily urban areas and caters especially to higher end customers. Thus, the policy could reflect the political and ideological preferences of a large chunk of customers and the shareholders with voting rights.
Plus, when everyone else veers right, there’s always a chance that choosing to stay the course or veering left will prove to be the wise choice in later analysis. And if you err in a way that flatters left-wing sensibilities, your successes will later on be praised by media while your failures will be completely ignored.
I've also seen in the reporting that Costco inhouse refers to it as Diversity and Inclusion. They don't include Equity which most find to be the most problematic.
I think it's being misreported. Everything is being flattened to DEI. Diversity and Inclusion I would guess are broadly uncontroversial without the determinism of Equity.
Thanks. I was hovering somewhere around that general impression. I've been reading a lot on this, and it sure looks and sounds like the DEI dam has broken, and the morons on the Democratic far left suddenly finding themselves on the brink of being marginalized. Not that it means sanity is coming to the Left. The Dems, of course, don't appear to even consider any course correction and seem to be doubling down on the mess.
It does seem that institutional DEI is on the back foot, while the ideology is holding its ground in the politico-journalistical milieu. However, it's still early. If Trump Part Deux produces complete disaster in the short term, Big Progressivism may come roaring back.
Yeah, I've been thinking on this. Essentially, opposition parties have to wish for our country to fail so they can then ascend to ruling status. It's an ugly cycle. Although, in this case, all polling (which I normally eschew) is telling us Americans do NOT support DEI and it's just been the DEI-sters grabbing the microphone and shouting everyone down. Also, the tide seems to be turning on everyone imagining the Lefty Prog folks in our universities having answers and good directions for life. The mass of Americans seem to have the good sense to understand this stuff is going nowhere and it's not improving their lot in life. It's only improving the Robin DeAngelos and the Kendi X's, who in turn berate everyone not falling in line, which will eventually make people understand these people are shysters.
So, I don't necessarily see Progressivism "roaring back". I see it hanging around whining loudly and demonstrating (blocking roads, etc.) in ways that further alienate everyone.
I think it might be better described as a "majority" of Americans, if we're relying on recent election results as any kind of indicator.
Trump's margin of victory in the popular vote was what, 1 1/2% or so? When added together, all the votes that were *not* for Trump actually surpass the total that were *for* him, but that's not a reliable - and therefore relevant - indicator, since no one can say for sure how the majority of those votes leaned on the DEI issue, though it could well be more con than pro. None the less, Trump eked out a victory on a quite thin margin, which was sufficient to put the reins of government in his hands but is nowhere near a popular "mandate" to do anything.
And when looking at Congress, yes, the anti-DEI side of the aisle controls both houses, but also by "mandate lacking" majorities.
I don't point this out as either a personal advocate or opponent of DEI - that's a separate issue that I doubt a lot of folks here would care to hear me opine about. I just make the distinction because the sentiment for the "public face" of DEI and the obviously overwrought and over-reaching aspects of it may be on the wane, but I don't think the public sentiment for its *goals* has gone anywhere much in one direction or the other.
I guess another way to put it is that I think the argument against the current methods and the means of DEI may have been persuasive to a simple "majority" of people but not a huge majority. And those left in support of it will still be a political force to be reckoned with going into the future.
I think there was probably some good in the initial DEI impulse, but, as Eric Hoffer said: Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.”
The latest Dispatch pod made the point (actually, Jonah’s point) that the liberals are losing. That is, with the supplanting of the mainstream media with alternative and social media, they no longer control the public narrative, as they did for most of our lifetimes. We see that on DEI, gender ideology, immigration, and other areas.
Trump is actively breaking down the dam, which was already crumbling. But whatever happens to DEI, there are plenty of other ways Trump 2.0 cal end in disaster. This “bull in a china shop” EOs are rife with unintended and undesireable consequences. That applies even to the ones I like, such as abolishing DEI in the federal government, and the affirmation that there are only 2 sexes, male and female, determine by physical characteristics not psychological gender identity.
Manul hates you, but not enough to stay awake.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU1nDJkP44I
Ya' gotta love that kind of hate.
Sometimes you need a nap. 😴
Good Sunday morning. Temps in the 20s getting into the 30s this afternoon. A slightly warmer week ahead as January winds down into February.
Good morning. Less cold will be nice.
Placido Domingo, everyone. 28Fs with a forecast high of 54, will probably rain tonight.
Morning. Nineteen here locally, officially 27ºF. Supposed to be in the upper 30s today and the next days.
D has been Scouting for Food (like my kids ever stop), and my husband and I walked about 3.5 miles on a city greenway trail. It was cold.
I'm working with the parish council and other Hispanic Ministry people to assemble resources for our parishioners in the new immigration enforcement climate. We should be able to have handouts and posters by next weekend.
It's too bad humans settled in Madagascar. How cool would it be to have just one place in the world untouched by man.
https://www.ncesc.com/geographic-faq/what-places-on-earth-have-not-been-explored/
https://greatergood.com/blogs/news/unvisited-earth-locations
Interesting!
There’s always the Jurassic Park option. 🤩🤩🤩
Something tells me that would not end well. 🙂
Another cool animal from Madagascar...thanks Cynthia
It is 27 degrees here, feels like 13, but it is supposed to get to 31 later this afternoon, a veritable heat wave..
I have nothing but scary news with no answers yet and I am struggling to remain positive and my body is of course taking the stress out on me...lol
So, don't want to go into the cat and my mom thing until I actually know what is happening, and I also don't want to be too much of a downer...sigh..I wish the vet and my sister would get back to me...
Going to read some stuff today and pay bills and not much else
Have an awesome Saturday everyone.
Best wishes for a good day for you ❤️.
Thanks Cynthia
Flirting with thawing temperatures: praise be!
May your Saturday be its own reward and free of care.
Thanks Marque
The Google/YouTube algo thought I might like this—and it was right!
https://youtu.be/ArS2qZG6bLM?si=NxO6QVilqrKqFhWQ
That was... weird. Funny. But weird.
Apparently, Nina Conti enjoys being talked down to. By herself.
Weird.
Good morning. 16 degrees here. It may get above freezing, shortly before sunset. Or so say the professional guessers in such matters.
The FP has a story this morning about a city dweller who took her family’s from an apartment in Brooklyn to a farm in upstate New York.
I love her perspective and she's a great writer. I'm glad she will be a regular contributor.
Was Eddie Alberts quoted in the story? 🧐
Eva Gabor was planted quite some time ago and is unavailable for comment.
Don't worry. If you don't like my humor at first it might eventually grow on you. 🌱🌵
(no mold or fungus cracks allowed)
Farm puns are still puns -- 🚪
Doesn't mean, as noted above, that they might not grow on you if you'd just give 'em a chance. :-)
No chance. 🙂
I know what the problem is... you just need a little more fertilizer. And there's no shortage of that around here. 😁🙄
I could never remember which Gaboring sister played in the tv-show. I just remember her using a hammer to complete a jig-saw puzzle.
Eva.
That's how I do it.
No. Nor was Arnold Ziffel.
Because she expects her family to grow better on a farm than in an apartment.
Ba dump bump
The full on Chinese Lunar New Year Spring Festival mass migration is peaking right now. There's about 300-400 million people actively driving their car, packed on a high speed train, and in some cases walking home....right now. The pictures of tens of thousands of people in the train stations are almost unbelievable. Videos of highways with creeping bumper to bumper traffic for 250 miles. Highway rest areas that are so packed, cars are backed up for miles waiting to get in so they can pee.
Think about that. The approximate entire population of the United States are all going somewhere....right now, all at once.
Watch "The Last Train Home" and you will get a feel for what it's like. That movie made me sad.
Did I ever mention that's one reason I don't like large crowds, the crowded restrooms?
Be safe, have fun!
Thanks! I could write a short essay on Chinese bathrooms…it’s a…never mind.
Best wishes for a safe trip to everyone.
The New Year isn’t for 5 days…how long does this festival last?
The whole Chinese gift giving thing is really wonderful. No one goes to anyone's house without something. Fruit is very common, folks arrive with boxes of fruit. We're overflowing with fruit right now.
Is re-gifting acceptable?
Absolutely. We have a closet of stuff….tea, various scarves, odds and ends, fancy gift porcelain cups in fancy boxes… that folks gave us. If you’re going to someone’s place, you take a gift. The stuff you don’t want goes somewhere else, or is stored away for future gifting.
When my wife’s students come over for help or consolation, they always bring fruit, lots and lots of very nice fruit.
If you are hosting someone, are you expected to give gifts to the guests as well?
When I was in college I hosted some Taiwanese business men, and they gave my mom a little tea set. She fixed them plates of food. Should we have had a gift for them as well?
The thing with oranges... In America, we like apples and have a couple dozen varieties. In China, it's about oranges. There are several dozen varieties of oranges; our neighborhood guys carry 15-20 different types, but there are dozens more varieties. We've got little "mandarins" in America, but here, they are what we would call heirloom varieties. They come with the leaves on as a means for determining freshness. Wilted or no leaves, not fresh. They last about 3-4 days, like strawberries. During Spring Festival, vast numbers of these little oranges are served during visits.
There are a dozen or more "ugly oranges" (that's the translation) that are like a regular orange but the skin literally is like a bag; the orange rattles around inside. They're a gifting item. They come individually wrapped in fancy paper, in a decorative nice box.
No, no, no…plates of food was perfect. The visitor brings a gift. The host lays out platters of oranges, nuts, and is constantly refills everyone’s hot water bottles and/or tea cups. And you sit there and talk. Family members all go around to the elderly members and visit. In this part of China, sunflower seeds are consumed in volume. It’s like a nervous tic; people crack and eat sunflower seeds while talking….or doing anything, really. There are mountains of sunflower seed shells after every visit. Out in the villages, they shells literally cover the floor.
It’s essentially a 2 week party. Officially, it’s from about now until January 29, which is the official New Year’s Day. The whole country shuts down, and I mean that literally. Everything closes and everyone goes back and forth visiting family and friends, sitting and talking, and eating lots of good food and giving gifts.
Gifts are kinda fun. We got a big bag of potatoes from a cousin, several boxes of oranges, a 2 gallon jug of cooking oil…. We gave some village cousins a big box of milk powder (they don’t have a refrigerator.). I’m taking a jug of cooking oil and a bag of apples to a friend up in the mountains tomorrow.
Everything, like grocery stores and gas stations?
Only a few gas stations and grocery stores. The place empties out and doors are locked everywhere. You stock up, fill up, and get ready.
On the China beat, Big Daddy has gone full Kim Jong Un with 6 o'clock news setups of him walking through grocery stores and the (small) crowds are all have ear to ear euphoric smiles and are clapping maniacally while BD receives their adulation with studied calm and smiling restraint. It's so over the top, it's comical. All the normal people in their LR's immediately change the channel and snorts things I don't understand but are clearly distaste...which makes me understand we're all brethren in this ridiculous world.
For those attuned to communication in China, this is actually good news. The Party fully understands that everyone hates his guts and have reverted to 1950's infantile political idiocies, which everyone recognizes for what it is, making the current Party leadership even more reviled.
Maybe BD should take a page from DT's Western playbook of late and instead of walking through a grocery store, pull a quickie shift bagging fries at a MickeyD's. Lots of folks here seemed to eat that one up with more relish than a Chicago hot dog.
Very interesting.
This apparent emphasis on well endowed animals has my (often filthy) mind reeling with sarcastic commentary.
#MeToo.
Thank goodness that's all its reeling with! This is a family publication!
Glad you weren’t trying to get a rise out of him.
Giggle, speaking of dirty minds....mine went there..shame on me...lol
I trout he'd have taken the bait. But then again...
Erections have consequences
Snicker, you guys are killing me, thank you
Cynthia needs to reel in the male anatomy discussions for a while.
Some of the responses are getting to be a little hard to take.
🙄
I could have said the same thing about your "consequences" crack.
But noooo... I had to go and try to be polite for a change. 🤐😉
This is the end of the Madagascar animals topic.
Yes, that's a risk of reporting significant scientific information.
I'm not sure it's the "significance" of the *info* that's the problem.
There's a problem....(?)
Morning. What a tiny creature.
It’s 3ºF here, but the official temperature that will go into the weather books is 14ºF. Thermometer placement makes a substantial difference.
Maybe your thermometer deserves to get an F for accuracy?
The no-joke answer is that I replaced it with another of the same brand at the same location that gave the same readings. There’s a reason the official thermometers in the field for official weather records use(d) Stevenson screens as the standard.
Where they showed that the intention of the “science” is propaganda is when they started combining thermometer readings prior to the standard with the ones after the standard was implemented. Next they stopped caring where the Stevenson screens were situated. I could go on…trust me…
I'm not sure who the official "they" is here, but it sounds like you'd like to tell them where to stick their thermometers.
No joke, I realize placement matters. And you'd think "standards" would, too. I mean how's the data supposed to actually mean anything without the consistency of standards?
Where the thermometers are placed does matter.
Especially if we're talking about taking your own temperature?
Ouch!!
I've been working on my seat of the pants feel for when temps are listed in Centigrade. I'm almost there. Like, when I see 65ºF, I know exactly which tech jacket to grab. Now when I see 15ºC, I know what to put on before I go out.
I'm not there yet. 0º means a medium jacket, 20º is really pleasant walking weather, 25º means Katie wants the a/c kicking in, 30º means the pool will feel great, and 42º means I'm probably in Maroc.
That’s remarkably accurate.
It took me a couple years, but I got there. It didn’t take very long being away from it for me to forget it again completely, though.
So true.
I've spend most of the week working on the DEI retrenchment research paper. I had hit a wall; all I had was the direct effect. I tried to test some regressions, but to no avail; I needed more data.
I went back to some earlier, non-activist DEI retrenchments. Something odd struck me, an idea to make it work. And it kinda sorta did. The sample grew from 18 to 32, but the main effect dropped to no significance. Normally this is known as "a major bummer"! 😨But not to me, it works! 😀
If I split the sample, there's a very clear difference between the activist retrenchments, and non-activist retrenchments. The activist are positive market reactions, the non-activist are negative (but not significant).
The story is about "paying the Danegeld", which is the firms who retrenched in response to the activists did so to make them go away. And the markets responded favorably to that.
I let my co-author know, who was excited about the results. We'll provide the overall sample, then show the two sub-samples to make our point. As further proof we can combine the two sub-samples for a multi-variate regression sample, showing what affects both groups, while showing the sub-sample split is real. It'd have been perfect if the non-activist had been both negative and significant, but in the overall regression analysis the split is statistically significant.
We're gonna make the deadline for this special issue after all! 😀
Katie is very happy because I have been out of her hair as she has both her sister and her best friend visiting for the weekend. Does she care about the results? Her sister and best friend are more interesting to her, for some reason.
Exciting - seriously! I'm happy for you :-)
Jay, it would help for us non—sociologists to know what “DEI retrenchment” is in plain English. I’m guessing, establishing DEI in an organization.
Hi all
Several companies have announced they are taking actions to reduce their DEI efforts. Those actions include no longer reporting their DEI efforts to the Human Rights Commission, no longer sponsoring Pride week activities, or reducing headcount in their formal DEI staffs. That is what is I meant by retrenchment.
Robbie Starbuck this past summer began bragging he was the activist causing this to happen. And the stock market price changes between those which he targeted and others (announcing cessation of some DEI practices) is huge. It's +1.4% for those he targeted, and -0.5% for those he did not.
It probably means different things to different people. Since a certain POTUS may not actually know the difference between entrenchment and retrenchment, I expect it's safe to say it could represent his and his administration's position on it: bury it.
That's my position on it too....bury it and never exhume it, EVER!!!
I didn't know for sure what that meant, but I think the basic idea should work whether "DEI retrenchment" means adding DEI practices or eliminating them. In either case, the corporation that is seen to be responsive to activist pressure is rewarded by the market.
Exactly! 😀 And the argument is they are in effect "paying the Danegeld" to get the activists to leave them alone.
Can that be explained in terms the average construction worker can understand?
🤣
Here is what I think it means: If a corporation is under pressure from activists, and the corporation makes changes in its DEI policies, its share price will go up.
Observation of the phenomenon doesn't explain it, of course. I would suggest that investors reason that a company that responds to activist pressure is less likely to be the target either of a public boycott/harassment action or of a government inquiry, with its attendant costs and uncertainty.
And it may depend on who the activists are and their motive / objective as opposed to the way management "sees things" as being in the best interest of the company.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/costco-dei-policy-board-statement-shareholder-meeting-vote/
Of course I couldn't tell you whether Costco shareholders are right or wrong about their response to this vis a vie what's best for their company for the long term; time will tell I suppose. What I've read about it elsewhere indicates Costco's management at least think *their* version of a DEI program is a good thing for the company. And the shareholders seem to strongly agree.
However it works out for them, I give 'em all props for not caving to outside (and currently fashionable) political pressure about how they legally run their own darned company.
It seems to me like it would be very challenging to separate out signal from noise or to isolate a single cause in later analysis.
As to what they decided, Costco seems to me like a company that is concentrated in heavily urban areas and caters especially to higher end customers. Thus, the policy could reflect the political and ideological preferences of a large chunk of customers and the shareholders with voting rights.
Plus, when everyone else veers right, there’s always a chance that choosing to stay the course or veering left will prove to be the wise choice in later analysis. And if you err in a way that flatters left-wing sensibilities, your successes will later on be praised by media while your failures will be completely ignored.
I've also seen in the reporting that Costco inhouse refers to it as Diversity and Inclusion. They don't include Equity which most find to be the most problematic.
I think it's being misreported. Everything is being flattened to DEI. Diversity and Inclusion I would guess are broadly uncontroversial without the determinism of Equity.
At the Domtar paper factory, the HR lady talked about diversity and inclusion, as well.
I don't think Costco is where "higher end" customers go.
I stand corrected. I guess that’s what you conclude living in an area with no Costcos and multiple Walmarts and a Sam’s Club.
Thanks. I was hovering somewhere around that general impression. I've been reading a lot on this, and it sure looks and sounds like the DEI dam has broken, and the morons on the Democratic far left suddenly finding themselves on the brink of being marginalized. Not that it means sanity is coming to the Left. The Dems, of course, don't appear to even consider any course correction and seem to be doubling down on the mess.
It does seem that institutional DEI is on the back foot, while the ideology is holding its ground in the politico-journalistical milieu. However, it's still early. If Trump Part Deux produces complete disaster in the short term, Big Progressivism may come roaring back.
Yeah, I've been thinking on this. Essentially, opposition parties have to wish for our country to fail so they can then ascend to ruling status. It's an ugly cycle. Although, in this case, all polling (which I normally eschew) is telling us Americans do NOT support DEI and it's just been the DEI-sters grabbing the microphone and shouting everyone down. Also, the tide seems to be turning on everyone imagining the Lefty Prog folks in our universities having answers and good directions for life. The mass of Americans seem to have the good sense to understand this stuff is going nowhere and it's not improving their lot in life. It's only improving the Robin DeAngelos and the Kendi X's, who in turn berate everyone not falling in line, which will eventually make people understand these people are shysters.
So, I don't necessarily see Progressivism "roaring back". I see it hanging around whining loudly and demonstrating (blocking roads, etc.) in ways that further alienate everyone.
RE: "The *mass* of Americans..."
I think it might be better described as a "majority" of Americans, if we're relying on recent election results as any kind of indicator.
Trump's margin of victory in the popular vote was what, 1 1/2% or so? When added together, all the votes that were *not* for Trump actually surpass the total that were *for* him, but that's not a reliable - and therefore relevant - indicator, since no one can say for sure how the majority of those votes leaned on the DEI issue, though it could well be more con than pro. None the less, Trump eked out a victory on a quite thin margin, which was sufficient to put the reins of government in his hands but is nowhere near a popular "mandate" to do anything.
And when looking at Congress, yes, the anti-DEI side of the aisle controls both houses, but also by "mandate lacking" majorities.
I don't point this out as either a personal advocate or opponent of DEI - that's a separate issue that I doubt a lot of folks here would care to hear me opine about. I just make the distinction because the sentiment for the "public face" of DEI and the obviously overwrought and over-reaching aspects of it may be on the wane, but I don't think the public sentiment for its *goals* has gone anywhere much in one direction or the other.
I guess another way to put it is that I think the argument against the current methods and the means of DEI may have been persuasive to a simple "majority" of people but not a huge majority. And those left in support of it will still be a political force to be reckoned with going into the future.
I sure hope "Am I Racist" becomes available for home viewing without having to subscribe to Daily Wire+.
I think there was probably some good in the initial DEI impulse, but, as Eric Hoffer said: Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.”
The latest Dispatch pod made the point (actually, Jonah’s point) that the liberals are losing. That is, with the supplanting of the mainstream media with alternative and social media, they no longer control the public narrative, as they did for most of our lifetimes. We see that on DEI, gender ideology, immigration, and other areas.
Trump is actively breaking down the dam, which was already crumbling. But whatever happens to DEI, there are plenty of other ways Trump 2.0 cal end in disaster. This “bull in a china shop” EOs are rife with unintended and undesireable consequences. That applies even to the ones I like, such as abolishing DEI in the federal government, and the affirmation that there are only 2 sexes, male and female, determine by physical characteristics not psychological gender identity.
(Apologies for the rant). 🙂
Don't apologize. Have another cup of coffee and go for it.
I share your perspective. There's a lot of bad mixed into the couple things I'm liking.
I share your general perspective, Phil.
I'm interested in your results, Jay. Sincerely.
I'm picturing Boy George singing about them
"Nana-nana-nana nano-chamelion,
you are so small
you are so smalllllllllll."
Loving would be easy if you were like my dream
red gold and green, red gold and green eeen"
Do I get bonus points for not getting sophomoric about it? 😀
Yes. We will mail them to you.
Wow, such creativity so early on a Saturday morning! Impressive!
You re being generous to call it “creativity”. 🙂
I think it was probably just a caffeine high burning itself out.
Oh, Phil.😿
That made me laugh. I'll give you bonus points even without sophomoric commentary. Leave the sophomoric stuff to those of us with filthy minds.